WAKE FOREST, N.C. — A new water park is coming to Wake Forest, but it’s not just about all the fun it’s expected to bring to the community.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Admission is $40 for a 2-hour session, and $60 for a half day 
  • The park used to be a historic quarry and has been given new life to the anticipated opening

 

The new owner of Fantasy Lake Adventure Park is restoring a historic quarry, and time is ticking for the opening.

“Getting all the loose ends tied up, cleaning the edges," said Daniel Cox, owner of Fantasy Lake Adventure Park.

Cox has just a few days to go before the big grand opening.

“It’s gone crazy the last week. We’ve done a lot of social media," Cox said.

Cox bought the historic property with his dad last year. Their original idea was to put their landscaping company at the location, but that didn’t work out.

“Because we’re in the watershed, so we went the recreation route with the property," Cox said.

And so, Fantasy Lake Adventure Park was born.

Flipping through old articles of what used to be Fantasy Lake Scuba Park, Cox says there were actually plans to make it look like an amusement park in the '70s. Those plans also fell through.

The new water park, however, will give the site of a once-very-important quarry, a new life, according to Cox.

“From what we’ve heard, it was such a dense granite that they used for the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel. That was the claim for fame for the quarry here, and a lot of road beds around the area they used the stone from here, and downtown Raleigh, lots of historic areas down there," Cox said.

It won’t be a massive employer for granite any longer, but it will be a space for community to come together and enjoy recreation. 

Cox says it all just fell into his hands, and the rest is history.

“People are like, 'Why did you buy a rock quarry?' And, it’s just one of those odd things that came about, and now we're gonna make it shine for the community," Cox said.

A two-hour session at the park will cost $40. It's $60 for a half-day session.

It all opens Friday, May 26.